Global Witness welcomes a statement made by
the Prince of Wales at the Paris climate summit today, in which he urged governments
and companies to do more to protect forests as one of our best hopes against irreversible
climate change.

“Prince Charles is right to stress the major
role of commodity companies in driving deforestation, which are accelerating
climate change and the forced displacement of millions of indigenous people, but
are seldom held to account,” said Global Witness Co-Founder Patrick Alley.

The Prince also said that one of best strategies
for safeguarding our forests would be to grant indigenous communities who live
in them legal rights to protect them.

“The people who live in forests have the
most at stake in keeping them standing,” said Alley. “Across Latin America,
strengthening indigenous rights to land has proven links to healthier forests
and lower carbon emissions. This is a model we should be replicating globally,”
said Alley.

“If the Paris climate conference is to
claim success it must include concrete commitments to protect the rights of communities
over their land and forests, and to clamp down on the trade in timber and
agricultural products, which is driving egregious environmental destruction and land
grabbing and pushing our vanishing rainforests ever closer to extinction.”